South Korea's ruling party on Friday showed a mixed reaction to a statement issued by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

"We think of the statement as meaningful as (Abe) mentioned remorse and apology for the past history," a statement by the Saenuri Party said.

However, the party said that the Abe statement "has room for improvement because it did not directly mention remorse and apology for Japan's past history of aggression, but only expressed them in a roundabout way in the past tense."